quincy jones

The original 'We Are the World' was recorded almost exactly 25 years ago to benefit the charity, USA for Africa. Recently, 80 stars got together, including co-writer Lionel Richie and producer Quincy Jones, to remake the classic song to help with Haiti relief efforts. The video was supposed to debut last night during the Olympic opening ceremonies, but they just showed an excerpt. We have the full video here.

It's nice to see some of the same people involved in making the first video in the remake, but this version is populated by mostly new faces including Jennifer Hudson, Josh Groban, Wyclef Jean, and Kanye West, among many others. In fact, there were so many artists featured in this video, that I didn't even recognize them all. The new version is about a full minute longer than the original, and the real question is, how does it stack up?

When the original 'We Are the World' was created 25 years ago, the music video of the final performance was put together in record time. Over a month of work went into the production. For the remake of the song, which brought together the likes of Pink, Celine Dion, Barbra Streisand, the Black Eyed Peas, Tony Bennett, Jeff Bridges, Bono, Justin Beiber... and more, the video, which was filmed in 3-D, was completed in about a week. Tonight, 'We Are the World 25' will have its world premiere at 7:30 p.m. (ET) on NBC during the Vancouver Winter Olympics.

This isn't just an entertainment we'll be seeing, although it's going to be something to watch how 80 stars were crammed together into a cohesive, musical chorus as spectacular as the original 'We Are the World' 25 years ago. No, this is also a call for donations because there is still a lot of work to be done in Haiti.

For a limited time, iTunes is offering video and audio versions of the performances as well as some exclusive content that wasn't televised during the original air date.

While you can expect to pay a nominal fee for everything you download, all proceeds will be distributed to relief organizations within the U.S. and Africa via the Charity Projects Entertainment Fund.

Although "Idol Gives Back" has already brought in $60 million in donations, it's nice to see some ancillary methods like this iTunes arrangement continuing to bring even more money to the charitable cause.

We're halfway through American Idol's self-proclaimed "historic" charity event. Last night, News Corp donated 10 cents for every call received (up to 50 million calls).

Tonight, a bunch of celebrities (including Ellen DeGeneres, Kelly Clarkson, Gwen Stefani, Celine Dion, and a mystery duet) will take to the stage to entertain America and raise even more money and awareness.

If the previews are correct, it looks like tonight's new episode of The Office will officially kick off the Pam vs. Karen battle. Some of you who favor Pam may look at Karen and say, "Who is this chick?!?" First of all, don't call her a chick. Second of all, I thought this was an ideal time to meet Rashida Jones, the actress who plays Karen on The Office.

Rashida Jones has some pretty amazing genes. She is the daughter of legendary music producer Quincy Jones and actress Peggy Lipton. Yeah, I know. I'm jealous, too. So, of course this beautiful woman (named one of People's 50 Most Beautiful in 2002) can both act and sing. And she's some sort of piano genius who could play classical concerts at the age of five. She is one of the back-up singers on three songs by Maroon 5's breakthrough album, Songs About Jane. And she's wicked smart, graduating Harvard University in 1997. And, even though I haven't seen it, she apparently does a great job of putting Tupac Shakur in his place during an interview in the documentary Thug Angel (Life of an Outlaw). She didn't like some things Tupac had to say about her famous dad.

When I learned about the Seinfeld tidbit that they tried to add nonsense lyrics to the theme but failed, I started thinking about theme songs over the years that stick in your head despite the fact that they're presented without lyrics. There are more shows than you think that fit into that category, and they're not all one-hour dramas (where most lyric-less theme songs can be found). Adam put up a list of them in December. But there are particular ones that have adhered themselves to my cerebral cortex to the point where I probably hum them in my sleep: